A Row of Columns

I’m really getting to adore roads lined with massive columns. So impractical, but I think the Romans were on to something. Columns are impressive. The ones at Jerash are in better shape, but still, this road was a treat to explore.

Heading around the corner…

Yet again… staring off into the distance. This is about where I pulled out my cell phone to coordinate with Brad and his group. See where they were and where/if we wanted to meet up. Yes, out here in the middle of nowhere, we had cell coverage.

Built in 100-200AD by the Romans, it replaced a road built and used earlier by the Nabataeans. It was mostly destroyed by an earthquake.

One end of the road faces the tombs on the walls.

In the other direction is a massive gate

Honor wanted to walk along all the rocks (lined up on the right; probably for future reconstruction), as she did so, a Bedouin youth on a donkey rode his donkey up on the rocks and showed off his mount’s skill on uneven surfaces (still wouldn’t want to ride one of those little animals up stairs though).

Tired travelers!

The Small Siq, and Tombs Everywhere

The Treasury was amazing, but what was even more awe-inspiring, was the rest of the city that we found around the bend. A city! Who knew??

Can you imagine the time it took to do all this carving?

Look closely here, waaaay up on the hill. I almost walked past this! (But didn’t go up there, Honor out-voted me).

More spectacular than the Treasury if you ask me!

Same rock face, looking around the corner. Amazing!

This looks like it was a work in progress.

Notice the people way off in the distance, yea… more indication of how long/big this site actually is.

There were bars over some doors, but the Bedouin kids (and some adults) were inside these structures anyway. I figure they knew which areas were barred for safety, and which were barred to restrict access… we didn’t, so just stayed out.

What to do with all the holes in the walls? Place a shop or two, of course!

After this valley of tombs and carvings, was a hike down the road to more sites…. a looong hike! We took a break at a nice little shop on the left-hand corner of the lane, before the Collonaded Street, and it was cool and comfy. Run by very friendly folk. What a relief to have a chance to sit in the shade a bit before walking on.

More photos later! We are still ‘on the road’ and I am posting what/where I can.

The Treasury

The famous site in the Indiana Jones movie… ta-daa! It is amazing to catch first glimpse of it as you make your way through the Siq. Nevermind that you may have seen photos, nevermind that you’re expecting this scene the whole way… cameras, even the profession movie type, just do not do it justice… it’s stunning to catch your first peek…

Depending on the angle of the light, or how close we got, the stone consisted of many colors. We arrived mid-day and the sun made the site glow like gold.

Posers.

Using Honor as a measure of scale… kids are handy to cart around for a variety of reasons.

looking down the road

and back to the entrance of the Siq

and as they say on TV (kinda fun to be back in the land of infomercials again) “But wait, there’s more!”

But you’ll have to wait. We are still on the road, on vacation, and are in-process of packing up to leave Fremont, heading down to Santa Cruz and Monterey… see ya on the boardwalk, scoring free samples of clam chowder (which I give to my husband as I can’t stand the stuff, I’m just nice that way!)

The Siq

One of the few photos I caught of Brian… he’s a fast kid. I’m not sure what the thing hanging from the arrow is… I couldn’t help but think it was equivalent to one of those ‘weather rock’ pieces, you know, if it’s wet, it’s raining; if it’s swaying, it’s windy; if it’s white, it’s snowing, etc. In this case it would be: if you touch it, and your finger melts, it’s daytime in July.

The Siq itself is its own tourist attraction. We weren’t there at the ‘ideal’ time of day. The light was bright and harsh. Nor were we there in the ideal season. One of the local carriage drivers told me the winter was best because the rains wash away the dust and the colors of the rocks and trees are more vivid. I thought it was still spectacular… even hot, washed in dust, and too bright to look at.

On one hand, the place felt MASSIVE.

and yet in other places, you could feel the presence of past lives in a way that way cozy and comfortable.

One of the ancient water channels.

Even dusty, the rock was beautiful. Yellow, black, white, pink, red, orange…. simply stunning. And huge.

The shade was also blessed relief, and notice the greenery… all the way through there was birdsong, and even the occasional chirping of what might have been a cricket or lizards. That was unexpected, and very pretty.

One of the carriages. Not a comfy ride at all, but so nice to have at the end of the day.

Our littlest adventurer – notice she’s standing on a stone roadway, the reason why the carriage ride was torture, but still, very cool, and the water channels continuing along the walls.

We saw a number of carvings along the way.

My camera is not good enough to capture all the color and beauty of this little canyon.  

Honor and I take a much needed water break, one of many, in the shade of these great walls.

Hard work just getting this far, and for what??

oh, yea…